On behalf of 157 full-time and 82 part-time staff, as well as 154 newspaper carriers, I thank you for your support over the past year and, for many of you, a lifetime of engagement with our products. I want to share with you what we accomplished last year and describe the news organization we want to create, with your help.
HD Media is a local ownership group representing 18 of the most astute business leaders and legal minds in West Virginia. They invested because they believe journalism and a community news source are essential to empower you, the citizen, to make our state and our communities places in which we all can take pride. I use the term citizen instead of reader or consumer because we have a damn high expectation that our journalism will help you make a difference. Looking back, in some respects, 2022 was the best year in our history, and, in others, perhaps the most challenging.
On the positive side of the ledger, today, not only can you read our stories, but you can experience journalism in ways you never could before. Last year, we added a full-time digital features reporter who links video to online stories and provides QR codes in our print products. On almost a nightly basis, you can watch the best in high school sports on our websites or our HD Media app, available on Apple, Android and nearly all smart TVs. While on the app, you can check out our ƵEcho ChamberƵ news show hosted by Rick Lord, a 20-year, award-winning broadcast anchor.
The preservation of community journalism is still our passion. ThatƵs why we recently purchased two more print publications, the Webster Echo and the Virginia Mountaineer in Grundy, Virginia. Citizens in these communities fervently support these products, and we are confident we can bolster their digital presence for an even brighter future.
Since we started, we have grown from one publication with a newsroom of 33 people to nine publications with a staff of 60 hard-working journalists. Other newspaper companies are shrinking. We are growing.
We have not only added journalists, we have delivered great journalism. Last year, we won 31 first-place awards for journalistic excellence in the West Virginia Press Ƶsociation contest. Just last Monday, our own Luke Creasy, our Marshall University sports reporter, was named the National Media Sports Media ƵsociationƵs West Virginia Sportswriter of the Year, marking back-to-back years an HD Media staffer has received that honor.
Ned Chilton, Col. Joseph H. Long, Tom George, Fanny Seiler. I could list 100 names of publishers, editors and reporters. Each of our publications has an incredible legacy based on how these men and women answered the business and social challenges of their day.
We have plenty of room for improvement both in the news business and in our state.
ƵThe customer is always right!Ƶ ThatƵs what my father, Marshall, said when my wishes clashed with business reality.
I read two printed papers every morning, but to reach the citizens of tomorrow, HD Media will have to provide news, sports and entertainment in many new and different forms.
Daily personalized news emails, video political talk shows and podcasts are just a few new venues where we will compete and grow.
This has not been an easy change. Nearly every team member has been asked to do hard things.
We are asking new people to do new things with the objective of reaching a new audience. Some team members will thrive in this new multimedia landscape. Others may find they are more at home in a traditional role at another news outlet.
There will be successes, failures, sensations and flops, but we will strive always to give you all the information so you can make up your own mind.
ItƵs been an incredible blessing to play my small role in West Virginia journalism. Journalism is truth. The truth is easy and fun when itƵs both certain and well-received. Headlines like ƵCoach Huggins has another undefeated seasonƵ and ƵNew PF ChangƵs restaurant opens in Pullman SquareƵ are met with delight and rack up lots of pageviews. Stories about people, such as coal barons, politicians and coaches, are harder. Journalism that challenges the unacceptable status quo of our education and health care systems and economy are hardest.
Link, like, watch, comment, subscribe, but most importantly, act. The future of this news source and, much more importantly, our state and our home is what the citizens decide.
Doug Reynolds is the managing partner of HD Media.
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